


Protection (In A Way)

by EtherealNyx



Series: Pre-Game Galar Works [14]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: Ambiguous Relationships, F/F, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, for lack of a better tag, my life is going downhill, posting this from a Whole Foods
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-25
Updated: 2019-09-25
Packaged: 2020-10-28 08:29:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20775563
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EtherealNyx/pseuds/EtherealNyx
Summary: Gloria’s a runner at heart, truth be told. Even when she doesn’t want to be.In which there sure is some running, along with a cave.





	Protection (In A Way)

**Author's Note:**

> I told myself to write about Hop and then I didn’t! This only counts as further proof that I cannot be trusted to do anything I say I will. Even my own mind was like ‘woah, Hop time’ before writing Marnie fic like a fiend. Scratch that; it wrote Marnie fic IN A STYLE I BARELY EVER DO like a fiend.
> 
> ;c; but yes on with the show yeeee

Her cousin falls. 

She watches in slow motion as he is besieged by Combee. Surprise is written all over his face, and at once, she is six again, helpless in the face of a Pokémon horde. 

Gloria runs. And runs. And runs. 

She doesn’t allow herself to think until he is propped up against the wall of their refuge, a lonesome cave carved into the mountain by something she can only dream of. It’s too dangerous to apply another antidote, but her fingers itch for one anyway. They’re almost all out of medicine. 

“Masaru…” She whispers, brushing at his hair with her hands. “Masaru, wake up.” 

He doesn’t respond. Thick, bitter bile rises in her throat. She swallows it back down. 

Outside, it begins to pour. 

* * *

When they were little, Hop liked to climb trees, so Masaru did too. In theory.

She remembers him begging Baba to let him practice. He was always so scared of falling behind. 

Masaru climbs and climbs once he gets permission. She’d always find him scaling the scattered trees in the field, and she’d sit underneath them to watch. 

“Look, Yuuri!” How many times had she heard that from him? “Look how high I am!”

Back then, she’d giggle over it. Here she was, the  _ brave  _ one, too nervous to join him, and there he was, the shy one, eagerly going up, branch by branch. 

It was only funny until the day he fell, downed by Skwovet with a grudge. 

He didn’t like heights much anymore. 

Gloria stares into the rain, wishing for a change. His pulse is steady, but so is his state of consciousness. Every few minutes, she presses her ear to his chest, just listening, but nothing happens. It all feels like a horrible, unending dream.

She wants to say ‘I told you so.’ She wants to say ‘I’m sorry’. There’s a lot on her mind.

“It’s going to be hell out there when you wake up.” She tells him. Her cousin doesn’t move. 

* * *

  
  


An hour passes before he starts to wake up. By then, she’s started a pretty shitty fire. Hop could have done better, if he was here.

“You’re thinking too hard.” Masaru croaks. 

Gloria instantly throws herself down to be at his level. “Are you okay?” She asks, clutching at his hand. “How do you feel?” 

His smile is contrite. “I’m s-sorry-” Violent coughs wrack his body. “I didn’t think. Guess I’m the stupid one.”

“It’s fine.” She says automatically, even though it isn’t and won’t ever truly be. “Do you need anything else?” 

There is a wretched shine to his eyes, all glittery with wetness. “Did you hurt them?” 

Her fingers tremble. She lets go of him, turning back to the glow of the embers. Those four words make everything raw again. They dredge up what she’s blocked out.

“Yuuri.” He hasn’t called her that in years. “What happened to the Combee?” Masaru vocalizes his concerns, even as his voice dwindles into a scratchy mess. 

“I’m sorry too.” is all she tells him before the sound of boots crunching up the earth reaches her ears. 

Under any other circumstance, they’d shush each other as a joke. Now, Gloria moves to cover his prone figure from whoever it could be. She hasn’t learned much from travel beyond how to trust even less than before. Most people are normal. Most. Not all. 

“Yuuri?” He asks, a note of terror in his voice. She doesn’t answer. 

A figure approaches from far back in the tunnel. Gloria grabs a ball, waiting. Hanabi’s tired from earlier, but she can still use him if need be. Her starter’s never let her down. Besides, whoever it is doesn’t need to know that. 

Seconds pass by. They continue to walk forward until the silhouette becomes recognizable.

“Marnie?!?” Gloria relaxes, shifting away from her position as her cousin’s guard. “What are you doing here?”

The girl’s hair drips water relentlessly. Her clothes are soaked through. Even her makeup is ruined, a sight she’s never seen before.

“I like caves.” Marnie shares, and leaves it at that. “What’s wrong with Victor?”

He cracks a grin at her, albeit more loopy than before. “Hi! Is it tomorrow yet?” 

She sighs deeply. Was lucidity too much to ask for? “He got poisoned by a Combee swarm about an hour ago. I tried some antidotes, but I don’t know what else to do.” Gloria is trying her best not to fret conspicuously, but it’s not a battle she’s down for winning. 

Darting forward past her, Marnie presses her hand to his forehead. “He’s running a fever.” She reports coolly, like she can’t be bothered to feel a thing about it. “I can help.”

“You can?” She hates feeling skeptical of people she likes being around, but it comes back to trust again. Marnie’s pleasant to be around, so long as her cronies aren’t, but who knows? Things are harder now. She’s seen it unfold before; people make friends, only to backstab them once the competition gets tough. Galarians are cutthroat first and kind never, sometimes.

“Of course I can.” Her fellow challenger’s expression remains stoic. “I used to want to be a doctor.” 

Marnie? A doctor? There are more peculiar things to claim, but she can’t picture it for the life of her. Sure, it’s impossible to ruffle her feathers, but medical experience?

The punk girl pulls a hoard of medical supplies out of her drenched bag, immediately proving her wrong. “I don’t know what half of that stuff is.” Gloria informs her on a whim, though that in itself has its own risks. She could do anything, really, and she’d be none the wiser.

“That’s hardly an issue.” She doesn’t look impressed. Then again, Marnie doesn’t look like much of anything most days. “I’ll explain it to you.” 

Masaru opens his eyes. Funny thing, that. She hardly noticed him closing them. “Hey, Marnie?”

“Yes?” 

His gaze looks more dull than she’s ever seen. “I’m going to die, aren’t I.” It isn’t a question. 

Marnie laughs. 

For a moment, Gloria can only stare at the two of them. Her cousin is flushing with indignation, and even though he is ill, it’s a funny look on him. But  _ Marnie.  _ She’s never heard a laugh quite like that one. She wonders why she’s never heard it before. 

“Don’t be stupid, Victor.” She tells him, finally warm. “It’s only a couple of stings. Now, Gloria, listen carefully…”

She makes the effort at first. It’s her cousin after all. But the words fly over her head. Marnie’s in her element, explaining biological processes and chemical compounds like no tomorrow. As she talks, the downpour fades into white noise. Her world zeroes down to a voice and a boy. 

In the end, Gloria decides to trust her. Really, it’s all she can do. 

“Thank you.” She tells her. She’s nothing if not grateful. 

Marnie stares at her like a puzzle she didn’t ask for. “Victor will feel better in a few days.” She doesn’t offer anything back. If she has to be honest, Gloria prefers it that way. 

They plop down next to Masaru, framing him on both sides. It’d make a shitty picture. Marnie chuckles again, the sound deep and rumbling. Or maybe that’s a mix of thunder and natural resonance, mashing up in her head. 

“You’re quite amusing. Are you aware of that?”

It’s a strange way to realize that she said something aloud again, but for once, she doesn’t mind.

“Not really! M- Victor tells me I’m not funny at all.” It’s not a mean spirited thing. She does the same, and with more qualities to boot.

Marnie smiles. “You two do seem like the type to say those things.” 

“I resent that…” Masaru protests faintly before dozing off again.

She stifles a laugh. “Is it okay for him to sleep?”

Her friend (?) tucks herself into a ball before answering. “Yes. And I intend to as well. Good evening, Gloria.” 

“Huh?” But, by then, Marnie’s breath has evened out.  _ Some people really can sleep anywhere…  _ She thinks, fascinated.  _ Gods, I wish that were me. _

Gloria gazes at them for a moment before she feels like a voyeur. “Maybe I’m just a big hypocrite.” She mutters to herself; being observed when she isn’t aware of it never sits well with her.  _ A doctor though. She sure is something.  _

She looks back at the fire, shaking her head to clear it of strange thoughts. There’s too much to unpack there, and she’s too scared to try. Some treasure chests just aren’t worth it.

The sky continues to weep. Gloria shuts her eyes. 

She wakes to glowing stones and only her cousin beside her.

**Author's Note:**

> I sent this to my friend who requests 90 percent of these Drabbles and she said ‘Victor’s really dumb’ as her first comment on here, so. Valid.
> 
> For clarity, he wanted some Combee honey, and forgot about the awake and very angry Vespiqueen. Did you know that, in the games, high level Pokémon in the Wild Area will randomly chase you down? Fun stuff! Gotta love the terror of being a young teen in such a situation! *weeps*
> 
> On to the Masaru and Yuuri thing. Other fics of mine have mentioned that these two are the Yoshida cousins in my little world, but I didn’t really mention the names here. Anyway, they’re named Masaru and Yuuri, but their Galarian names are Victor and Gloria. I have some hcs about this, but I’ll share more of them another time, mainly because it’s a long explanation and I’m tired. For the sake of this fic though, all you gotta know is that Gloria tends to think of Victor in those terms when he’s in trouble. She won’t call him Masaru in front of other people unless she knows he’s fine with it; it’s a bit of a complicated situation.
> 
> I don’t know what else to say haha~ that’s all I have planned to talk about today! My Tumblr is bi-hop and I’m always open for chats. :> that’s about it


End file.
